Flood the country with $3 washes then run from it.

[wood]

Oh, so you do need labor. I feel this is worth a read

Thoughts?

Wood

https://www.sonnysdirect.com/mainse...=Sonnys_Direct&wec-locale=en_US&cm=4500-11488

 

[Washmee]

I had to laugh when I got that in my e-mail yesterday. I guess the old saying that the more things change, the more they remain the same is true. In 1978 I started in the carwash business working for Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio) they owned the largest chain of exterior conveyor washes in the country, over 120 locations. They were low priced express washes with gasoline sales. You could wash your car for $1 with a gas purchase from any Sohio location. Many of the locations washed over 100k cars per year and sold 1-3 million gallons of gas per year. Slowly over time extra services were added and more labor was needed. Eventually the bean counters in the Ivory tower pulled the plug and Sohio (now BP) has less than 25 conveyorized washes left. The $3 dollar wash concept was a way for Sonny's and others to sell equipment. A simple operation that was attractive to investors who never intended to manage the actual day to day operations of their washes. The problem is that eventually those washes need $$ to reinvest in new equipment etc.. and charging $3 doesn't generate enough revenue fro those costs. So now the need for more labor intensive services and the cycle starts all over again.

 

[robert roman]

“I suppose it had to happen. Express-exterior operators, already approaching $20 top packages based solely on premium online pay wax services, are hungry for the next growth opportunity.”

Of course it had to happen.

First of all, let’s consider the number of markets capable of supporting a $20 exterior-only wash package. For example, in Florida, you could count the number on one hand.

Second, where else can a business go that has only one profit center and where most of the property consists of a large parking lot that doesn’t produce any direct income?

“Not willing to invest in the labor and complexity of a flex-serve, but eager to increase their average ticket, they’re beginning to offer hand-prepping as a paid a-la-carte extra service. The numbers are impressive.”

So, after spending 1/2 million for state-of-the-art equipment and technology to maximize efficiency, the advice is to charge extra money for manual labor to improve the automated carwash experience.

If 20 percent of customers pay $2.50 for hand prep, average ticket would increase by $0.50.

Not bad but after this, what’s next? Put people back in the tunnel to hand wash or wax? Invest another 1/4 million or so to add auto polishing tunnel or after-care center, both of which require labor?

That’s the problem when you design a carwash around vending machine business model. A machine can only do so much.